Five things you can do on Thanksgiving Day, other than eat

Fill up, then get going!

LONGMONT -- Santa Claus is coming to town and he has some pretty nice tats.

Or maybe the Hollywood interpretation of the bestselling book "Life of Pi" is more your speed. How about a remake of '80s classic "Red Dawn"?

Movies that opened Wednesday are likely to draw families out and away from Uncle Scott's puns and grandma's cheek-pinching binge.

The animated DreamWorks Animations' "Rise of the Guardians" offers a new take on some of childhood's central characters, like Santa, tasked with protecting the children of the world and is likely to be popular at the holiday box office.

There are still plenty of other movies at the box office in case the new ones don't measure up.

-- Pierrette J. Shields

Work out

Think of it as a pre-emptive strike.

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If you're looking to burn calories before packing them back on, Longmont Recreation Services is offering several classes today, though city facilities are closed. Regular rates apply.

Centennial Pool, 1201 Alpine St., will be open for lap swim from 7 to 11 a.m. An indoor biking class is scheduled at 7:45 a.m., and a water fitness class starts at 9 a.m. Both are an hour long.

Instructors also will lead both a boot camp and a cardio sculpt class from 7 to 8:30 a.m. at the St. Vrain Memorial Building, 700 Longs Peak Ave.

"We found a lot of people want one workout before they eat and then just enjoy the holidays," said recreation center supervisor Sue Jacobson.

Or you can get your cardio by vigorously hip-checking shoppers on Black Friday. Your call.

--Magdalena Wegrzyn

Take a hike

If you're going to walk off Thanksgiving dinner anyway, why not hit the trail?

You may even find you have a bit of company on the St. Vrain Greenway. Parks maintenance manager Charles Kamenides is certainly expecting so as his crews sweep off the roughly 9-mile walking path for use.

The Greenway runs from Golden Ponds to Sandstone Ranch, with other trails splitting off from it. The Lykins Gulch connection meets the Greenway at Golden Ponds and continues to and under Airport Road.

"You could start out there and ride all the way to Sandstone Ranch without ever going on a street," Kamenides said.

If the Greenway isn't your style, there's plenty of other options. At last count, Longmont had about 37 miles of trails; overall, Boulder County as a whole has about 370.

-- Scott Rochat

Go golfing

"T" as in Turkey? How about "T" as in Tee Time?

For the second year in a row Longmont duffers can spend a portion of their Thanksgiving at Twin Peaks Golf Course, the lone city course open.

"We typically are closed two days out of the year: Christmas Day and Thanksgiving Day, mainly because we didn't want to ask any of our employees to work," said Larry Mills, the city's golf operations manager. But last year, one of his staffers volunteered to open on Thanksgiving.

"What surprised me was I thought it would be a lot of 'nine-holes-walking,' but some people played 18 holes," Mills said. "That's about a 41/2-hour commitment."

-- Tony Kindelspire

Go bowling

Did you know that besides being a highly edible fowl, the word turkey also refers to bowling three strikes in a row? Coincidence?

Think again, giblet-breath.

Centennial Lanes, 110 E. Ninth Ave. in Longmont, closes just two days a year: July Fourth and Christmas Eve.

"It's all open bowling (today)," said manager Don Angstead. "And it's not usually really busy. Sometimes late afternoon and evening it gets busy. It's mostly families coming in and hanging out."

Centennial's hours today are from 10 to 10, just a drumstick shorter than normal.

Coal Creek Sports Center in Lafayette, a spokesman said, will not be open today -- the first time in 24 years it has been closed Thanksgiving Day.

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